Multi-compartment cigarette package



Sept. l5, 1964 E. E. GATTO MULTI-coMPARTMENT CIGARETTE PACKAGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 26, 1962 INVENTOR Enf/fh,4 5. 60H0 ATTORNEY Sept. l5, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 26, 1962 n m m m lllllllllllllllllllll Ilm-lll.) w m a l E.. m. M 1 n. .A F a/= I 9 I m lllllllllllllllllll 6 70 w n Il I E lo l; 2 n 4 J 0 M 8j 7 4 l L ||||||x|||||1|l||||| 6 0. 4 7 8 8 0 u 5 l ,l A, l. 0 m F n A ..-,eileHA TAE 6. 8 6 3 .l. 5 A

United States Patent 3,148,768 MULTI-COWARTMENT CIGARETTE PACKAGE Edith E. Gatto, 2h63 Murray Hill Road, Cleveiaud, Ghio Filed Dec. 26, 1962, Ser. No. 247,175 4 Claims. (Cl. 206-41) This invention relates to a multi-compartment cigarette package and has for an object to provide an improved cigarette package made up in a plurality of readily separable compartments wherein each compartment contains approximately half a dozen cigarettes, wherein the complete package includes preferably three compartments, althrough it may include less or more, and when in the form of three compartments is approximately the size of a conventional package of cigarettes.

A further object of this invention is to provide a multicompartment cigarette package which may be sold and then carried as a single unit, wherein each compartment may be used without disturbing the remaining compartments until the cigarettes have been used up in one compartment whereupon the empty compartment may be readily discarded and a next compartment may be then opened, the succeeding compartments thus being left completely sealed to maintain maximum freshness of the cigarettes therein.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a multi-compartment cigarette package wherein the package may be carried as a unit and each compartment utilized until it is empty and then may be discarded fromV the package, thus progressively reducing the size of the package until the last compartment, itself, is used up and discarded.

However, another object of the invention is that when space is at a premium, the individual compartments may be readily separated and a single compartment or unit carried separately, thus making a smaller' amount of cigarettes available to the smoker and thus tending to cause the smoker to space out the cigarettes that he has available thus cutting down the amount of smoking that he does with beneiicial results of less smoking.

Still a further object of this invention is tov provide a multi-compartment cigarette package wherein each compartment unit is separately unsealed and then opened as needed until that particuiar compartment unit is empty whereupon it is readily discarded and a successive compartment unit is then utilized in a similar manner.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improved cigarette package compartment unit wherein a small number of cigarettes are packaged in a sealed package which may be readily opened, and then the foil portion of the unit may be lifted temporarily from the containing wrapper to make an individual cigarette readily accessible without the necessity of touching an adjacent cigarette thus keeping the unused cigarettes in more sanitary condition.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a multi-compartment cigarette package wherein each compartment unit is made up of an inner-foil wrapping about a small number of cigarettes, the inner-foil wrapping being carried in an outer wrapping which is further carried in a sealed cellophane wrapper having a pull tape for individually opening the same and wherein when being used, cover tabs are provided to close the package when not in use, one of the tabs being useable as a handle for lifting up the cigarette package and for further uncovering a side portion thereof to make these individual cigarettes more readily available.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of constmction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. l is a perspective view of one side of the multicompartment cigarette package of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the other side of the invention with one end compartment unit emptied and in the process of being discarded. K

FiG. 3 is a perspective view of a single compartment unit showing the inner-foil container with the cigarettes raised up to cigarette dispensing position.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view through the multicompartment cigarette package on line 4-4 of FIG. l.

FIG. 5 is a section view on line 5 5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section view on a very much enlarged scale on line 6 6 of FlG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a plan View of the sheet of wrapping material blank used in forming the outer wrapper for one end of compartment unit.

FlG. 8 is a similar view of the sheet material blank for one or more intermediate units.

FIG. 9 is a similar view of the sheet material blank for t te other end unit. y

FIG. l0 is a similar view of the foil wrapper, blank.

FIG. ll is a side elevational View of a separated compartment unit.

There is shown at lti the multi-compartment cigarette package of this invention, here shown, as consisting of three separable individual parallelopiped-shaped compartment units in wrappers i2, i4 and 16. The end units in wrappers 1,2 and i6 diifer slightly from each other and from the intermediate unit in wrapper 14 butfif more than three units'are'provided in the package, all additional units will be identical with the intermediate unit at i4. Each individual unit consists of an inner dispensing pack i8, made up of foil lined paper consisting of an inner paper portion Ztl and foil portion 22 which are intermediately secured together to act as a single sheet, as illustrated in FIG. l0'.

As shown in FIG.' l0, this foil Vcoated paper consists of four elongated rectangular sides 24, 26, 28 and 3l) with a joining strip 32 extending from the side Sti. Depending from the bottom of each of these elongated sides are bottom forming tabs 34, 35,33 and 46 and at their upper ends are cover forming extending tabs 42,V 44,46- and 4S, each arrow shaped as shown, with one ofthe tabs such as 44 having its sides extend down further as at Si? to 'provide the tab bearing the numeral 2,as shown in FIG. 3. This tab 44 thus acts as a handle for temporarily pulling the cigarette containing foil up out of its outer wrapping so that the tabs may be opened to a position shown in FIG. 3 and make each individual cigarette 52 more readily accessible for dispensing from the package, whereby the selected cigarettemay be individually grasped without the necessity of touching any adjacent cigarette.

The outer wrapper blank shown at 12, 14 and 16, each consists of a ilexible cardboard material to which a cellophane wrapper is simultaneously applied when wrapping it about the inner-foil pack 18, the exible cardboard being shown at 54 and its cellophane wrapper at 56 in FIG. 6. The outer wrapper blank 12 consists of four elongate rectangular side portions 58, 60, 62 and 64 and an extending end securing narrow strip 66. From the bottom of each elongate rectangular side member, there is a depending bottom tab 68, 70, 72 and 74 with the cellophane extending thereover. Extending upwardly from one side member, such as side member 64, is an elongate upper tab 76 having its upper corners beveled as at '78. Adjacent to but spaced from the bottom of the same rectangular side 64, there is provided a struck out tongue 80 which is left hinged thereto as at 82 with all the remaining sides struck out and its lower edge pointed at 84.

The blank from which one or more intermediate wrappers 14 is made up is identical with that shown at 12 in aisance en FIG. 7 but, in addition, has the side 86 provided with a slot 88 of a size and location so that the tongue Sii of an adjacent pack may be inserted therethrough between the wrapper 14 and the contained foil pack 18, as clearly brought out in the sectional View in FIG. 4.

The wrapper 16 forming the other end compartment unit is similiar to both the foreging wrapper but omits any elongate tab at the top but includes a slot SS correspondingly positioned in its side 86. The three wrappers being otherwise identical, identical reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts except where they have different functions.

In closing the foil inner packs, the tabs will be folded over the top ends of the cigarettes 52 in the reverse order of the numbers thereon so that the one bearing the numeral 4 will be rst folded over, then the tab bearing the numeral 3, then the handle tab 44 bearing the numeral 2 will be folded carefully over the top cigarettes and lastly the one bearing the number 1, t-his being tab 48 and its end provides an arrow all assembled to point in the same direction toward the end wrapper 12 so that each of the arrows point toward the package to be iirst opened, used and first discarded.

In operation, the foil packs 18 are formed by folding the wrapping sheets 22, shown in FIG. 10, to form the pack 18, shown in FIG. 3, and closed as just described. Then the wrapper 12 is folded thereabout with the cardboard wrapper material 54 leaving an open top as at 92 but the cellophane extending over and sealing the top with a pull tape 94 extending thereabout with a pull end 96 extending therethrough in a conventional manner so as to enable the top cellophane portion to be readily torn off and removed to allow access to the tabs 42, 44, 46 and 4S for opening the pack to permit a cigarette 52 to be removed therefrom. The foil pack 18 after having its cellophane top removed, may be lifted by pulling on the tab 44 with the numeral 2 to lift the foil pack 1S out of the wrapper pack 12 and permit the tab id to be opened along t-he cuts 5G to the position shown in FIG. 3, allowing the first and then subsequently each additional cigarette 52 to be individually removed as desired.

The compartment unit enclosed by the wrapper 12 is detachably secured to the compartment unit enclosed by the wrapper 14 by having its elongate upper tab 76 slid down through an appropriate slot in the cellophane top covering into the inner side of the elongate side S6 between the wrapper 14 and the foil pack 18 therein, as shown in FIG. 4, its tongue Sil being simultaneously inserted through the slot $8 ofthe wrapper 14 and the lower tab 72 inserted through an appropriate slot in the bottom of the cellophane cover to extend between the bottom two tabs of the intermediate pack in the wrapper 14. Obviously, in being assembled manually the tab 76 would make the rst insertion a slight amount and the tongue 80 would be simultaneously inserted and jointly brought together and then the bottom tab 72 would be inserted in position. Then the intermediate unit in Wrapper 14 is similarly joined through the end unit of the wrapper 16 making up the completely assembled package. Next, securing tapes 9S are secured between the bottom of the firstv and second compartments, and between the second and third compartments as shown in FIG. l.

To gain access to the cigarettes, the pull tape 92 of the first foil pack 18 to be used in the outer wrapper 12 is pulled around by its pull end 96 to unseal the cover tabs of the foil pack which are then opened in the order shown by the numerals on the inside thereof, l, 2, 3, 4, the handle provided by the cover tab 2 being pulled to lift the foil pack somewhat above the outer wrapper 12, asl illustrated in FIG. 3, to allow access to a cigarette. Then when one cigarette has been removed therefrom, the foil pack is closed by placing the right index finger against each foil tab and slowly working the linger to bring the foil tabs back into place, and the foil pack 1S pushed back into the outer. wrapper 12. When the last cigarette has been removed from the foil pack 13 in outer wrapper 12, as indicated by the upwardly extending cover tabs in FIG. 2, the empty pack 18 in the outer wrapper 12 is then discarded by pulling the securing tape 98 to release the cellophane wrapped first compartment 12 from the second compartment 14 and by merely lifting such unit in an upward direction, thus pulling out the tongues 72, and 76 from their positions in the adjacent unit and then the adjacent unit is opened and used in a similar manner.

Then the next pack is similarly used in turn. Obviously, more intermediate packs in the wrapper 14 could be provided if desired and similarly even the one intermediate pack in the wrapper 14 could be eliminated and only package units in the wrappers 12 and 16 assembled in a manner obvious from the foregoing description could 4be used to provide an initially smaller package.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being illustrative rather than limiting, since 4the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of t-he invention is to be determined as claimed. Y

Having thus set forth and disclosed the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A multi-compartment cigarette package comprising a plurality of separable cigarette compartments, each compartment containing a plurality of cigarettes, means for separably joining each of two of said compartments to each other, each said compartment being parallelopiped in shape, each compartment including a foil wrapper folded about the contained cigarettes and providing four sides, a bottom and an openable and resealable top, said resealable top comprising a foldable tab extending from each of said four sides and foldable over one another over the ends of the contained cigarettes, and an outer wrapper folded about the four sides and bottom of each' said foil wrapper leaving an unwrapped top end, one foldable tab being elongated by having cuts extending somewhat down along the sides of its compartment side to extend the top opening over a portion of the side of the contained cigarettes to allow more ready access thereto after the foil wrapper has been lifted somewhat from said outer wrapper, each outer Wrapper being open at its top, each foil compartment being vertically slidable upwardly through said open top of said outer wrapper, said outer wrapper of one compartment providing four elongate sides and bottom tabs, and an elongate tab extendingvupwardly from the top end of one elongate side, the bottom ta-b of said one elongate side and said elongate tab being arranged to be inserted into holding position in the outer wrapper of the next adjacent compartment, and a tongue struck out from said one elongate side and arranged to extend through a slot in an adjacent elongate side of the wrapper of said next adjacent compartment, said elongate tab, said bottom tab, and said tongue and slot thus providing said means for separably joining said compartments together.

2. The package of claim l, and a cellophane wrapper enclosing each separable compartment, slotted to receive said joining tabs therethrough, a pull tape for removing the top end covering portion of said cellophane wrapper, and a second pull tape securing the first compartment to the second compartment, and a third pull tape securing the second compartment to the third compartment.

3. A multi-compartment parallelopiped-shaped ciga- -rette package comprising a plurality of separable cigarette compartments, each compartment comprising a foil wrapped about contained cigarettes providing elongate sides, a bottom, and tabs extending upwardly from said sides `and foldable over the top ends of the contained cigarettes providing a reclosable cover therefore, and an outer wrapper folded about the sides of each foil compartment and having depending bottom forming tabs at the bottom end of each said side, and means separablyV holding each outer wrapper in contacting adjacent relation comprising a tab extending from the top end of one outer Wrapper side and folded over and inserted between said foil compartment side and the outer wrapper of the adjacent compartment and one bottom forming tab of said same outer wrapper, said bottom tab extending outwardly and inserted between opposite folded bottom tabs of said adjacent outer Wrapper, and a tongue struck out from one of the contacting adjacent sides between its ends and inserted through a slot in the other of said adjacent sides to between the outer Wrapper side and the foil side therewithin.

4. The package of claim 3, each compartment having an enclosing cellophane Wrapper thereabout slotted to receive the joining tabs therethrough, a pull tape adjacent the top end of each compartment for removing the top of the cellophane wrapper, and a second pull tape securing the first compartment to the second compartment, and a third pull tape securing the second compartment to the third compartment.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,630,497 Morris May 31, 1927 1,949,139 Bethke Feb. 27, 1934 2,205,509 Winburn June 25, 1940 2,283,856 Hoenig May 19, 1942 3,007,623 Clemens Nov. 7, 1961 3,087,609 Davis Apr. 30, 1963 FOREIGN PATENTS 453,296 Great Britain Sept. 9, 1936 

1. A MULTI-COMPARTMENT CIGARETTE PACKAGE COMPRISING A PLURALITY OF SEPARABLE CIGARETTE COMPARTMENTS, EACH COMPARTMENT CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF CIGARETTES, MEANS FOR SEPARABLY JOINING EACH OF TWO OF SAID COMPARTMENTS TO EACH OTHER, EACH SAID COMPARTMENT BEING PARALLELOPIPED IN SHAPE, EACH COMPARTMENT INCLUDING A FOIL WRAPPER FOLDED ABOUT THE CONTAINED CIGARETTES AND PROVIDING FOUR SIDES, A BOTTOM AND AN OPENABLE AND RESEALABLE TOP, SAID RESEALABLE TOP COMPRISING A FOLDABLE TAB EXTENDING FROM EACH OF SAID FOUR SIDES AND FOLDABLE OVER ONE ANOTHER OVER THE ENDS OF THE CONTAINED CIGARETTES, AND AN OUTER WRAPPER FOLDED ABOUT THE FOUR SIDES AND BOTTOM OF EACH SAID FOIL WRAPPER LEAVING AN UNWRAPPED TOP END, ONE FOLDABLE TAB BEING ELONGATED BY HAVING CUTS EXTENDING SOMEWHAT DOWN ALONG THE SIDES OF ITS COMPARTMENT SIDE TO EXTEND THE TOP OPENING OVER A PORTION OF THE SIDE OF THE CONTAINED CIGARETTES TO ALLOW MORE READY ACCESS THERETO AFTER THE FOIL WRAPPER HAS BEEN LIFTED SOMEWHAT FROM SAID OUTER WRAPPER, EACH OUTER WRAPPER BEING OPEN AT ITS TOP, EACH FOIL COMPARTMENT BEING VERTICALLY SLIDABLE UPWARDLY THROUGH SAID OPEN TOP OF SAID OUTER WRAPPER, SAID OUTER WRAPPER OF ONE COMPARTMENT PROVIDING FOUR ELONGATE SIDES AND BOTTOM TABS, AND AN ELONGATE TAB EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE TOP END OF ONE ELONGATE SIDE, THE BOTTOM TAB OF SAID ONE ELONGATE SIDE AND SAID ELONGATE TAB BEING ARRANGED TO BE INSERTED INTO HOLDING POSITION IN THE OUTER WRAPPER OF THE NEXT ADJACENT COMPARTMENT, AND A TONGUE STRUCK OUT FROM SAID ONE ELONGATE SIDE AND ARRANGED TO EXTEND THROUGH A SLOT IN AN ADJACENT ELONGATE SIDE OF THE WRAPPER OF SAID NEXT ADJACENT COMPARTMENT, SAID ELONGATE TAB, SAID BOTTOM TAB, AND SAID TONGUE AND SLOT THUS PROVIDING SAID MEANS FOR SEPARABLY JOINING SAID COMPARTMENTS TOGETHER. 